Loading ...Johnny Cueto makes his major league debut today in a 12:35 start at Great American Ballpark. After last night’s outstanding walkoff win, it would be great to see Cueto win the rubber match of the series.
I know you are all going to be listening to the game at work, so discuss it here while the boss isn’t looking….
Today’s lineup
Ryan Freel CF
Jeff Keppinger SS
Ken Griffey Jr. RF
Brandon Phillips 2B
Adam Dunn LF
Edwin Encarnacion 3B
Scott Hatteberg 1B
Paul Bako C
Johnny Cueto P
I brought in my XM Myfi to work today just so I could listen to the game!
I thought for sure LLM would be catching Cueto. I guess we are going with the veteran to help the young guy in his debut. Man this is exciting!!
Happy Johnny Cueto Day!
anyone in Cincy think this is going to get delayed? CTR has a photo of the tarp being rolled onto the field.
Cueto strikes out the first batter. Good start.
My fantasy team will take the Strikeout thank you Cueto
First batter: STRIKEOUT!! Way to start your big league career
Quick, Easy, and Painless! 1-2-3
1-2-3 top half of the first inning.
JC comes out firing-5 fastballs to Young, strikeout. 1-2-3 inning. Welcome to the big leagues, Johnny.
I like the way this one’s shaping up early – 2-0 Reds. Weather is a question; Marty says that rains are expected, possibly around 2pm, and once it starts it’ll be heavy for some time. 1-3 inches of rain expected.
There are maybe 2,000 people at this game today. It just looks sad on tv. Day game + rain + April + no one knows what to think of this team = lowest crowd of the year.
I guess if Bako is catching day after night game with a latin pitcher making his first career start means Dusty will be using Javy as Harang’s personal catacher. Unbelivable.
Keppinger home run. 3-0 good guys.
Dusty loves him some Bako. Although, with the overall team speed of the Snakes, I could see why he prefers the D.
The FSN Arizona guys (Mark Grace and someone else) are just raving about cueto. They can’t stop saying good things and with good reason. Cueto is flat dealin’
Ben, Dusty said on pre-game that he preferred Bako to catch Cueto ML debut and to newspaper reporters that he preferred Bako’s arm against the D-back’s speed.
The big question is what Krivsky does after Ross is ready to return.
Hold off rain, HOLD OFF!
Agreed..HOLD OFF RAIN!!!!! Go Johnny Go!!
Cueto is on fire. 7 strikeouts through 4 innings – 12 up 12 down.
Freel is 1-21 lifetime against Davis. WTF is he doing leading off today?
I’m watching on gamecast. Noticed 3 straight walks. Are the DBacks stalling for rain or has Davis lost his control?
I’m in Athens, greece and couldn’t miss this, listening to MLB radio
Game is official – let the heavens open if they must.
Wait – having just gotten back into the office…Cueto is perfect through 5? Wow.
Is Freel the worst baserunner ever or what? And, will Dan O get any credit for Cueto?
According to Gameday, two of Cueto’s K’s were on pitches that were noticeably inside. As long as the ump is consistent, I guess I’ll take it.
Re Jeff: Freel looked like he might have been safe…it was the right pitch to run on (it bounced in the dirt…just unlucky it didn’t get any further away from the catcher).
As for Cueto, his strong start was all the convincing I needed to buy MLB.tv to watch him pitch!
I jinxed it – HR leading off the 6th makes it 3-1.
Bummer, there goes the no-hitter and shutout…
Work calls me away for the rest of the afternoon…but go Cueto!
Come on, rain! COME ON!!
Ben,
Are you in Reds territory and watching on DIRECTV’s Extra Innings preview? Or are you out of Reds territory?
I have been jinxing him for 2 innings now. The hit finally came.
10 ks through 6!
11 Ks through 6. Way to shake off the homerun Cueto!
10, my bad!
77 pitches through 6 on a cold miserable day….how long would you let him go?
I’m recording the game and had decided to avoid is as much as possible until I got home tonight. I hope, now that I didn’t, that I’m not surprised when I watch it. Heeeeere’s Johnny!
10 K’s, my bad.
My computer is terribly slow. I can’t tell what I’m posting.
I’d let him go 1 more and let’s see how the revamped bullpen holds a two run lead.
In Syracuse, for Louisville..Adam Rosales is starting at 3B.
Chance for Phillips to break this game open..
Darn…
Well, there’s the (way) inside strike called on Phillips. I guess it’s only fair since Cueto got that call at least twice.
Phillips was robbed on strike two call…but strike three looked ok even though he wasn’t happy about it.
Let’s just hope Cueto’s not tired out from running the bases!
1-2-3 first for Homer Bailey. Game’s on radio on Milb.com
92 pitches…that’s plenty. Go to the bullpen, Dusty….
There’s another great inning…. Think he keeps pitching?
Anyone watching the game…? Anyone up in the ‘pen?
I want to apologize to everyone. I ran to the library on break during class and checked the game, saw “perfect through 5″ and told myself there was no way I was going to utter the word “perfect,” I only lasted 30 minutes and told a classmate our star rookie had a perfect game through 5, and then I knew, just knew that when I got home to check again, someone had scored in the 6th. This is my fault.
Nonetheless, this is incredible! Just one more example of how distinct Cueto is from Bailey. This was supposed to be Homer last year!
Stormy on for the 8th inning
Hey, it’s almost better that Cueto didn’t pitch a perfect game. I mean, how is he going to top that? Let’s just hope that the bullpen holds on to the win.
Standing O for Johnny!
Nice move, Dusty…way to go. Let’s also remember that Cueto is 2 years older than Bailey.
This is my jam. Starter goes 7, Weathers in the 8th, Cordrero in the 9th. Don’t let me down, Tweedle Dum! (I’m still deciding whether or not to keep calling him that, now that Tweedle Dee is fired.)
I forgot just how nervous Weathers makes me…
i disagree bill. if i were the dbacks, i would have breathed a big sigh of relief. as good as weathers was last year, he doesn’t have anything close to cueto’s stuff, and the dbacks have to think this is there chance to get back in the game.
and walking the first two guys isn’t the way to start it. i leave cueto in and bring in coco in the 9th.
Come on Weathers. Three straight walks to load the bases.
Ugh. Weathers apparently forgot where the plate was.
Just because Weathers is stinkin’ at the moment doesn’t mean it’s the wrong move. 92 pitches in cold weather, first start is plenty…big picture, not one start…
Lincoln on to pitch after Weathers loads the bases…
david weathers just let the reds down big time. that is not getting the job done. he deserves a lot of credit for last year, but that lasts only so long. you have to win games like this for the young guys.
Lincoln????? Jesus, the game is on the line. Gimme the guy who’s getting $46mil, not the guy making league minimum. WTF.
Bases loaded on 3 walks. Geez Weathers!!!
why is 92 pitches a good limit?
2nd bonehead move in as many days by the ‘pick.
3-2 now on a sac fly. Wonder what Cueto’s thinking?
Agree completely Sultan. Lincoln? Game is on the line?
Another problem with traditional closer usage…only bring him in in the 9th.
Do you want to lose the game w/ your best available pitcher on the mound or one of the worst?
Lincoln may get a DP ground ball here but I’m still not a fan of this move.
hell yea!
This is where I wish rational thought would come into play. If there is a better situation to bring in your closer, i.e. your best pitcher, I’m not sure when it is.
Regardless of the successful outcome.
Good point about the age difference Bill. I think Weathers was the right choice even though he screwed up, and I thought Lincoln was the wrong choice until I just saw the strikeout!! Whew! Now let’s see how our star closer deals with this kind of pressure. Please don’t let JC down!
GOOD work by Lincoln. I’ll take that… 3-2 going into the bottom of the 8th…Here’s hoping the Reds can tack on a couple of insurance runs and Cordero slams the door shut.
And yet Lincoln did look kinda nasty
Kudos to Lincoln. Nice pitching.
Nice job by Lincoln.
We have been mowed down.
92 pitches in plenty b/c there’s a long season ahead, he’s 22 years old, he threw in winter ball, it’s cold and rainy…and I remember Wayne Simpson.
Reds go done with barely a whimper in the 8th…let’s see our $40 million dollar pitcher earn his paycheck now.
21st birthday today for Jay Bruce.
Milb has a nice Gameday for games, it’s about 2 pitches ahead of the audio..
3-2 the Reds win. Should have been a much bigger margin, but a W is a W.
WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
yeah…
Good work Reds (especially Cueto!)
2-1 to open the season, I’ll take that
3 1/3 IP for Bailey right now, has thrown over 50 pitches…
2-1 to start the season, and Dunn & Griff have a total of two hits between them. Not bad.
I agree – the right move there was to bring in Cordero. No way should you risk getting beat with your 12th best pitcher.
Though I’ll allow for the tiny chance that Mike Lincoln Resurrected will actually be the better pitcher this year, and an even tinier chance that Dusty Baker knows this already.
But honestly, I think Dusty just got very lucky two days in a row.
Three starters in a row allow 2 earned runs or less. I could get used to that kind of “luck”.
I know it’s early, but Hatte/Bako going 0-for-14 in the 7/8th slot behind Dunn/Encarnacion is going to prevent this team from blowing too many folks out.
Starting pitcher abuse log. So far, nothing negative to report this year:
Harang: 99
Arroyo: 96
Cueto: 92
ok greg
to prove u wrong
that isnt abuse
that is perfect pitches
Harang had 113 last year on opening day
He said there was nothing negative to report…
So the Reds are skipping Volquez rather than Fogg?
I have to admit, I’m a little bit bummed about skipping Volquez, I’m driving from Chicago Saturday to go to the game and I wanted to see him pitch. Not to say I don’t love going to a Harang start or anything…
Chris:
At the risk of this reply getting lost in the shuffle of a LONG thread, I’d like to respond to your comments in message 90
But honestly, I think Dusty just got very lucky two days in a row.
I predicted early in spring training, after reading this and several other Reds message boards, that no matter what Baker did and no matter how many games the Reds won, for a significant portion of the fan base, any improvement the Reds make this year will be DESPITE Dusty Baker.
Your comment is among the first I’ve seen to support my prediction, but it was only the 3rd game.
My point? Baker’s got a long way to go to get a fair shake.
Red, in the short run especially, you can’t just say, “well, they won, so everything that happened was correct.” That’s remarkably simplistic.
If you want to defend the decision to bunt Encarnacion, go for it. If you want to defend the decision to bring in Mike Lincoln, for the first time since 2003, with the game on the line, go for it.
But I think both of those were mistakes, and Dusty Baker got lucky that the team won both games in spite of those moves. I don’t see how that’s not “a fair shake.”
If it makes you feel better for me to also say, “Baker’s doing a good job on pitch counts,” then there – I did it.
Chris:
What’s the point of having a guy on the roster if you don’t trust him? Why not bring Lincoln in? Actually, I’d have been fine with ANYONE that Baker brought in there (additionally, I give Baker credit for actually pulling Weathers there. Narron never would have).
Let’s find out what these guys have. If they don’t respond, we have guys in AAA that, I think, are ready. This is the time to find out.
I do agree with the bunt there in game 2. I saw EE a lot in ST. He was, frankly, awful. And up to that AB, he was still awful.
Let’s be perfectly honest. If EE swings away without attempting to bunt and hits into a 6-4-3, then at least half of yall around here would have been screaming for the bunt!!
Which is exactly my point.
tampa
AMEN!!!